ASIC Financial Adviser Exam Blueprint and Practice Map
Map the ASIC Financial Adviser Exam's three equally tested competency areas to Finance Prep's planning topics and public practice diagnostic.
Official exam structure
| Item | Current ASIC policy and guidance |
|---|---|
| Standard | Applied knowledge and professional reasoning at AQF level 7 |
| Questions | At least 70 selected-response questions |
| Competency allocation | Equal split across the three examined areas |
| Duration | 3.5 hours, including 15 minutes of reading time |
| Scoring | Credit-level pass or fail; no negative marking |
| Question treatment | Multiple-choice and grouped true/false selected-response formats are described in ASIC preparation guidance |
| Statutory material | Relevant statutory content is supplied as part of applicable questions |
Competency-area map
ASIC publishes equal competency-area coverage, not weights for Finance Prep’s more granular planning topics. The practice allocation below totals 34/33/33 so the bank remains as close as possible to an equal three-way split.
| Official competency area | Finance Prep planning topics | Planning allocation | Questions in the public diagnostic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial advice regulatory and legal obligations | 7 | 34% | 24 |
| Applied ethical and professional reasoning and communication | 5 | 33% | 23 |
| Financial advice construction | 5 | 33% | 23 |
| Total | 17 | 100% | 70 |
Regulatory and legal obligations
The first seven planning topics cover advice classification, client status, licensing and provider roles, disclosure and advice records, best interests and appropriate advice, remuneration and conflicts, licensee and market controls, AML/CTF, privacy, and tax financial advice.
Do not study this as one list of section numbers. Practise identifying the actor, service, client, product, trigger, timing, evidence, and consequence in a scenario.
Ethical and professional reasoning
The next five planning topics cover the five Code values, 12 standards, the relationship between law and ethics, integrity, client interests, conflicts, informed consent, benefits, records, competence, cooperation, ethical frameworks, bias, diligence, and accountability.
A legally available action may still be ethically weak. The question may require a response that protects informed client decision making, manages conflicts, or addresses vulnerability beyond minimum disclosure.
Financial advice construction
The final five planning topics cover advice context and scope, client engagement and discovery, consumer profiles, behavioural influences, strategy development, suitability, alternatives, implementation, and review.
Construction questions require integration. A strategy should follow from complete client facts and defensible assumptions, then be communicated, implemented, documented, and reviewed consistently.
Use the free practice diagnostic for a fixed-form check, then return to unseen mixed practice so familiarity with one public set does not become the readiness measure.